Does your lower back ache like mad after about 20 mins of skating? Is it screaming by the end of your 27-in-5? Back pain is really common in derby, especially when you are just starting out. Derby position is new to most people and keeping low,low, low whilst doing your laps is not something we generally do in normal life! …

I don’t know how derby people survive without regular sports massages. Maybe I am particularly prone to muscle tightness or injury but my various massage therapists and physios have gotten me through the past 3 years with minimal time off. So as you can imagine, I have dropped quite a bit of cash on massages over the years – at …

This post is for myself and all the other idiots out there, soldiering on with various injuries, pretending it’s fine and will eventually just go away. Those of us who re-hurt it at practice and just shake it off and keep limping on. Those who “don’t like to rest”. I’ve been nursing quite a few injuries recently; a sprained ankle …

If you are just starting the contact portion of your minimum skills (hell yeah!) or are still relatively new to derby, you will most likely be using your shoulders a lot to hit. Here are a just a few of the hits you might learn that utilise your shoulder: The Shoulder Check – When next to an opposing blocker/jammer, …

Squats are the bane of my gym-life. No matter how much I stretch I cannot bend the various joints at the correct angle to get a true parallel squat. You can keep telling me how good deep squats are for me, how I need to stand with my feet hip width apart, put the weight into my heels, break at …

After and article I saw about how ballet dancers customise their pointe shoes, I was inspired to find out how Ballerinas strengthen their feet and ankles to go up on pointe. Ballet dancer’s strength, athleticism and ability to put up with pain is astonishing! I don’t think us roller girls have to put up with quite as much pain but …

Butts are awesome. I love bums in all shapes and sizes. Apparently so does Ginger Snap and The Internet. You can often hear a spectator saying “Dat ass” when watching roller derby. But having junk in the trunk is not only good for filling out booty shorts, a strong money maker helps protect you from injuries and makes you powerful and …

Ankles and roller derby: a deadly combination. In my short time playing roller derby I have personally witnessed three broken ankles, countless ankle sprains, hyper-plantar-flexioned (possible made-up word) my right ankle a few times and most recently sprained my left one too. When you mix wheels, bendy body parts and bashing the crap out of each other together, the probability of …

Dear Every Injured Teammate; Before I start, know that I think you’re awesome and what I’m about to say comes only with derby-love for you and our team…….. If you are injured, please, do not skate. When you’re injured and still skate, if I accidentally trip you up or hit you and hurt you, I feel like a …

There are lots of blog posts about how to be a Good Roller Girl, most including something along the lines of “stop bitching and moaning, man up and get to practice!”. No doubt there’s some subtle guilt tripping in your league whenever anyone misses a practice too. I’m here to tell you that SOMETIMES it’s ok to miss practice. Whenever I …